The government through the Ministry of Education has announced new tougher measures governing the registration of learning institutions in the country.
According to the new guidelines, schools will only be able to acquire provisional registration certificates which will be valid for one year or five years.
The Ministry further listed a number of reasons which would result in the deregistration of schools. These include; admission of students beyond the allowed quota, change of the school from mixed-sex to single-sex or change of a school from boarding to day and vice versa.
Another major reason for deregistration is if the school is found guilty of involvement in examination irregularities.
Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha announced that the regulations will change from time to time so as to suit the needs of the education system in Kenya.
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According to the guidelines, schools will only be allowed to take in students after they have been issued with a certificate of registration.
"It is therefore required that all providers of basic education and training adhere to the provisions of these guidelines as far as the registration of basic education and training is concerned," CS Magoha stated.
"The letter of approval of a site is not a license to admit learners to the institution," the regulations read in part.
Procedure & Requirements for registering a school
Members of the public seeking to set up a learning institution will be required to apply to the County Education Board (CEB) after which the directorate of quality assurance and standards at the county level will be made aware.
The directorate will then proceed to asses the proposed institution to ensure it complies with all the certified standards.
The directorate will take into account a valid title deed or lease agreement, size of the land, site of the institution, and availability of a site approved by the department of public works.
The proposed location of the institution should also be outside a 300 metres radius of any alcohol sales premise.
For a start, the school will be required to have at least two classes for pre-primary, eight classes for primary, four classes and at least one laboratory for secondary schools under the 8-4-4 system.
Under the CBC curriculum, the school needs to have at least two classes for pre-primary, six for primary, three for junior high school and three for senior high school.
The Ministry further announced that the distance between two public day and secondary schools should not be less than 600 metres.
The regulations also stipulate that the pre-primary schools attached to primary schools should not be outside a 2 kilometre radius, and forbids boarding for pre-primary school.
For the establishment of a new public primary school in an area, the nearest primary school must at least have two streams and a minimum of 480 learners. For secondary schools, the nearest secondary school should have at least three streams with a minimum of 520 students.
Buildings upon which the school will be housed should not have any other use, for instance residences or commercial businesses.
If the school requires change, they will need to be re-assessed afresh.
